Whether you’re working in a dangerous environment or like having your environment clean and tidy, you can do your bit to stay safe at work. From making sure that your company does its bit and provides equipment and training to avoiding risks and reporting faults, there are plenty of ways you can reduce the risk of personal injury and accidents. Below you’ll find a few tips on how to stay safer at work.

1. Focus On Communication

The first thing you have to do to stay safe at work is improve communication. If you are dealing with a toxic work environment, you should take the initiative to fix the problems and misunderstandings, so everyone is on the same page and work towards a shared goal. If colleagues hold a grudge against each other, they are less likely to warn coworkers about a faulty wire or piece of machinery. It is important that you improve the communication channels within the company.

2. Ask for Training

In case you don’t feel confident enough to handle machinery, toxic materials, or feel like you could benefit from advanced manual handling training, you need to ask your supervisor to provide you support. At the same time, if you notice that some of your less experienced coworkers don’t wear the safety equipment or have no idea how to stay safe, it is your responsibility to point this out and seek help from the management.

3. Become a Lean Champion

A fairly recent and popular approach to manufacturing uses Lean principles to eliminate waste and point out the risks. If you learn how to identify risks and sources of danger in your work environment, you could become a Lean champion and help others take responsibility for their actions. Lean risk management allows companies to identify danger before they cause accidents and personal injuries.

4. Involve Health and Safety Organizations

In some cases, you will need to involve health and safety training organizations and industry bodies. If you suffer from an accident, and you believe that the lack of training and safeguarding led to it, you should schedule a free consultation for your personal injury with a legal firm, but also focus on improving your company’s practices and help them prevent future accidents by asking a training or health and safety firm to step in and create a comprehensive policy.

5. Talk to Your Colleagues about Their Unsafe Practices

While this conversation will not be the easiest you had with your colleagues, it can help you come to an agreement and align your personal goals with the interest of the company. If you notice that some of your colleagues have adopted unsafe practices, you should talk to them, but if this doesn’t help, it is your responsibility to report it to your supervisor or your health and safety champion/representative.

Whether you are working in construction or manufacturing, it is your responsibility to keep yourself and your co-workers safe. Ask your managers for training and policies and involve outside firms if necessary.